This year commemorates the 70th anniversary of when Beaver County’s first radio station, WBVP, was heard over the airwaves for the the first time on May 25, 1948.  To mark the historical event, each week, another “70th Anniversary Moment” will be showcased on the airwaves and published on the station’s online feeds.

The title of “Hometown Hero” can be used to describe Mike Romigh.  Mike grew up in Beaver Falls and still resides within the school district in the nearby borough of Koppel.  Even as a youngster walking the hallways of Beaver Falls junior high and senior high schools, Mike would dream about becoming a disc jockey, and being on the radio.  Often times this meant walking over the the studio windows of his hometown radio stations, WBVP and sister F.M. radio station, WWKS,  then located in the basement floor of the First Federal Savings and Loan Bank at the corner of 14th Street and 7th Avenue in Beaver Falls, and watching legendary announcers like Jim Reynolds and Bill Kelly work their craft.  In a recent interview, Mike talked about how his interest in radio had piqued his interest at a young age.  “I’m somebody who went to bed with a transistor radio under my pillow. So I would listen all night, until I fell asleep.  I would move the dial up and down and listen to the static, find the next station that would come in. It was something that really captured my imagination.”

After working at Hydril in Rochester for four years after graduating from high school, Romigh felt those radio waves, that he dreamed about as a youngster, calling him again, so he enrolled in a correspondence course offered by the Columbia School Of Broadcasting in Pittsburgh.  After completing the training, Romigh landed his first radio job at WFEM in Ellwood City. in 1981.

He wouldn’t stay in Ellwood City long.  That same year, Mike was hired by WBVP and WWKS, Kiss 106.7 FM General Manger, at the time, Scott Lowe.   Initially, Romigh hosted an overnight music show on both radio stations.  WBVP was a live radio program, and WWKS featured the recorded voice of Mike Romigh during predetermined breaks that were slotted in  by the automated music system used by the F.M. radio station.   His big break came in 1983, when Dave Felts, who was hosting the morning talk show, “A.M. Connection” on WBVP went on Vacation.  Chris Shovlin was now the General manager of the two Beaver Falls radio stations, and even though Romigh had never hosted a talk show before, Shovlin  asked him to fill in for a day or two.  The temporary fill in duty went so well, that Romigh was asked to do the entire week, and for the rest of his career, Romigh would now be known as a talk show host, as this proved to be the niche that he excelled in.

Soon, Romigh was a regular host of “A.M. Connection” at WBVP. The timing was perfect, in a sense, for a talk show host, anyway.  Thousands of local workers had been laid off from the collapsing steel industry in Beaver County, so there was a huge opportunity with scores of people wanting and needing information about coping with financial and employment stress coupled with the fact that they had all day to listen to the radio.  Romigh was well connected with local labor, and worked in a Mill himself for a while, so this was the perfect storm for him.

Romigh was more than just a soothing voice on the airwaves at WBVP and WWKS.  In those early years, he organized efforts for the radio stations to raise money by selling hot dogs and soda out of a Coca Cola trailer on 7th Avenue to help the City of Beaver Falls to purchase new American Flags for the street poles.  On another occasion, he raised awareness through the “A.M. Connection” talk show about the missing Christmas Lights in Beaver Falls.  Not only were they found in storage over at Col-Fin Specialty Steel in Fallston, Romigh, along with Frank “Sluggo” Couts,  and other station employees, brought the lights to the radio station, cleaned them up and arranged for an electrical contractor to install them for the upcoming season.

After leaving WBVP and WWKS in 1985, Romigh took his talents south to WMBA and hosted a talk show initially called “Straight Talk”, later to be renamed “Live Mike”.  He joined a stellar staff at the Ambridge radio station that also  included Bobbie Vaughn, Al McDowell, R.D. Summers and Sam Nicotero.

Around 1987, Mike Romigh was hired by KDKA Program Director, Chuck Dickman, to do Weekends and part time fill in work.  For a while, Romigh worked at Both WMBA and KDKA, but in 1990,  He began to work on a regular basis at KDKA and had to drop WMBA from his hectic schedule.  Romigh became the regular host of the evening shift at KDKA for about 10 years and afterwards, crossed state lines and hosted the morning show on top rated Youngstown radio station, WKBN, in 2008.

Romigh’s career came full circle when he landed at his hometown radio stations in

Beaver Falls at WBVP and WMBA, again from 2014 to 2017.  He brought back the popular “Teleforum” talk show name, and served as Program Director.

Mike Romigh now works for the Beaver County Humane Society.

“70th Anniversary Moments” is presented by  Albert’s Heating, Cooling and Plumbing, Aliquippa Giant Eagle, The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority, Beaver Valley Auto Mall, Beaver Valley Sheet Metal, Castlebrook Development, Freedom United Federal Credit Union, Hank’s Frozen Custard and Mexican Food,  Laughlin Insurance Agency and Rochester Manor and Villa.

This year commemorates the 70th anniversary of when Beaver County’s first radio station, WBVP, was heard over the airwaves for the the first time on May 25, 1948.  To mark the historical event, each week, another “70th Anniversary Moment” will be showcased on the airwaves and published on the station’s online feeds.

In 1948, WBVP was making history on many different fronts.  Aside from being the first radio station  in Beaver County, WBVP was on the cutting edge of another historical event, that of having a woman talk show host.  Gertude, or “Gert” Trobe was one of the first women, anywhere, to be involved with broadcasting when she began her show as part of the original staff that station owners Frank Smith, Tom Price and Charles Onderka had assembled together in Beaver Falls.   The following is an except from the forthcoming book “Behind The Microphone – The History Of Radio in Beaver County”, which is being published in conjunction with the 70th Anniversary of WBVP in May.

“Following the news, one of the most beloved announcers in the Beaver County Area, of all time, Gertrude Trobe, would take control of the airwaves. (Beaver County historian and local author) Ken Britten summed up the significance of Ms. Trobe’s contributions. ‘Shortly after going on the air, Mr (Frank) Smith hired Gertrude Trobe to become the first woman’s director thus making WBVP the first radio station in history to have a full time Woman’s Director in charge of special programming aimed directly at the female market. You must remember radio was only 28 years old when WBVP went on the air and was still in its infancy. The hiring of a Woman’s Director made news throughout the industry.

Mrs Trobe was already well established on the faculty of Geneva College where she taught English, Drama and Communications. After being hired at WBVP she would become one of the leaders in female broadcasting within the industry, winning and receiving many awards, honors and certificates. She would become one of the founding members of the New York based “American Women In Radio and Television”, become recognized for introducing many radio firsts and be listed in “Who’s Who”.

Initially beginning by broadcasting daily 15 minute programs, she would eventually do a daily 45 minute show called “You and Your Home” that ran for thirty years and two shorter programs entitled “Market Place” and the “Shoppers Guide”. She would also be fondly remembered for her annual “Christmas Tea Party” and her many travel cruises.’

The Cookie Teas hosted by Gert Trobe over at the Brodhead Hotel  on 7th Avenue in Beaver Falls were some of the  the biggest events staged by WBVP every year.  the Cookie Teas were held up in the Grand Ballroom around Christmas time.   The events were for ladies only, were free of charge to attend and usually featured a buffet and guest speaker and sometimes a singing group or two.  Women who wanted to attend had to call WBVP and make a reservation.  The Cookie Teas were so popular that they needed to be held twice in the same day to accommodate the crowd of 500 to 600 ladies that would attend each year, given the 250 person seating capacity of the Brodhead Hotel’s Grand Ballroom.  (WBVP Engineer) Jim Roush also added in a December, 2017 discussion, that once the Cookie Teas were advertised on WBVP,  the phones in the office would receive a deluge of calls and all of the available reservations would be gone in a day. Gert would get dress shops and other sponsors to donate supplies, prizes and other things that were needed to pull off the Cookie Teas each year.”

Gert and her husband, Max were fixtures in the local community.  Max Trobe was a popular dentist in Beaver Falls and was involved with and attended many radio station social events through the years.

“70th Anniversary Moments” is presented by  Albert’s Heating, Cooling and Plumbing, The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority, Beaver Valley Auto Mall, Beaver Valley Sheet Metal, Castlebrook Development, Freedom United Federal Credit Union, Hank’s Frozen Custard and Mexican Food,  Laughlin Insurance Agency and Rochester Manor and Villa.

This year commemorates the 70th anniversary of when Beaver County’s first radio station, WBVP, was heard over the airwaves for the the first time on May 25, 1948.  To mark the historical event, each week, another “70th Anniversary Moment” will be showcased on the airwaves and published on the station’s online feeds.

In 1986, big things were happening at WBVP, and for sister F.M. radio station, WWKS, or KISS 106.7 F.M.  The stations had recently been purchased by Hopewell residents, at the time, Ted and Marilee Ruscitti.  Ted Ruscitti was focused on getting the most out of the 47,000 watt F.M. radio station that he had just acquired, and that meant some radical changes.  The first decision was to do away with the generic, automated soft rock and liven the delivery up a bit.  Then next choice ended up being a no brainer as well, hiring a morning show announcer that would attract lots of listeners.  The search for the new show host didn’t have to go far.  Mark Razz was just a few miles up the road, working at WKST in New castle, and he was a perfect fit.  He was, and still is, a bright, quick witted host with a keen sense of the community and sports world.

Mark Razz, aka Mark Radziewicz,  grew up in Bellville, New Jersey, not far from the bright lights of New York City. It was his college years at nearby Slippery Rock University that brought him out to Western Pennsylvania, and kept him in Beaver County after graduation until 1991.  Razz became a very popular personality on WWKS, KISS 106.7 FM by offering a daily line up of creative skits and dialogue with trusty sidekicks from across the hallway  of the Beaver Falls studios, at the A.M. counterpart of the operation, WBVP.  Often times Steve Granato and Tom O’Neill would join Razz on the show and help out with popular bits like “The Morning Calendar”, “The Dreaded Morning Oldie”,  “Sleezy Tabloid News”, and the “Lou Pappan Happy Birthday Greeting.”

Razz was also a prominent fixture on the other side of the dial, as he did sports play by play on 1230 WBVP.  One of his more famous broadcasts was the first ever football state championship game featuring a  Beaver County team in 1988, when he joined Bob Barrickman in the booth at Hershey Stadium for the Aliquippa-Berwick  class AAA state title game that year.  While it would end in a Quips loss, the game produced a few neat highlights, including the following snippet of Mark Razz calling a Jake Kelchner touchdown pass when Kelchner, who would later on star at West Virginia, played for Berwick High.

After leaving WBVP and WWKS, Razz headed to WAAF in Boston, and then to K-Rock in New York City where he worked with Howard Stern, and even did a stint on satellite radio before settling in as his current roll of Music Director at WXTU in Philadelphia.

“70th Anniversary Moments” is presented by  Albert’s Heating, Cooling and Plumbing, The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority, Beaver Valley Sheet metal, Castlebrook Development, Freedom United Federal Credit Union, Hank’s Frozen Custard and Mexican Food,  Laughlin Insurance Agency and Rochester Manor and Villa.

 

This year commemorates the 70th anniversary of when Beaver County’s first radio station, WBVP, was heard over the airwaves for the the first time on May 25, 1948.  To mark the historical event, each week, another “70th Anniversary Moment” will be showcased on the airwaves and published on the station’s online feeds.

The “Morning Man” has always been one of the most prominent segments of the broadcast day, and typically, A radio station will search far and wide to find a person with just the right mix of talent, humor, and ability to relate to the listeners to fill this role.  A couple weeks ago in the “70th Anniversary Moments” series,  we looked at the first “Morning Man” for WBVP,  Arnold Felsher.  Today we will reflect on the man the guided Beaver County mornings for over twenty years in more recent days, John Nuzzo.

John Nuzzo was the youngest of twelve children growing up in nearby New Castle.  Being the youngest of so many siblings, John, no doubt, learned at a very young age to speak up in order to be heard or noticed among all the family members in the house.  That household probably also helped develop John’s keen sense of humor and quick wit and eventually led to Nuzzo doing some stand up comedy work.

Before starting at WBVP in 1992, John had worked at WKST in New Castle, as well as radio stations in New Hampshire.  Upon being hired as the  WBVP morning show host and Program Director, John immediately put his talents to work and introduced innovative new ideas to the line up including “Ask The Commissioners”, which is still airs on WBVP and WMBA on the first Thursday of each month.   John also coined the name, “A.M. Beaver County”, as the official moniker of the morning time slot that is also still in use.  Listeners to “A.M. Beaver County”  in John’s era were treated to his daily “Brain Tweezer”, a popular trivia question guessing game that would have people trying to call in and correctly answer John’s query , at times, for the entire remainder of his program.

John Nuzzo was also very instrumental at forging relationships in the community on behalf of WBVP, and later on WBVP and WMBA.  During his tenure, the radio stations began to appear at  various county wide events like The Beaver County Maple Syrup Festival and The Beaver County Airshow.  He also began a popular monthly interview series with experts from Penn State Cooperative Extension that is still on the air.  Nuzzo also convinced station management in 1999 that this  newfangled thing called “the internet” was worth looking into and helped arrange for and set up the station’s first email account and website

John Nuzzo helped open other doors and create new opportunities for WBVP and WMBA.  In 2008, he recruited fellow New Castle broadcaster, Gary West, to host “A.M. Beaver County”, so John could then hold court in a new three hour local talk show, “The John Nuzzo Show”, that aired from 9 A.M. until Noon, which is where John stayed up until his retirement in 2014.

“70th Anniversary Moments” is presented by  Albert’s Heating, Cooling and Plumbing, The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority, Freedom United Federal Credit Union, Laughlin Insurance Agency and Rochester Manor and Villa.